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On May 23 The CPI (Maoist) and the Indian revolution had suffered another major and irreparable loss. On that fateful day, at about 10.30 am, comrade Patel Sudhakar Reddy alias Suryam alias Vikas, who is a member of the central committee of the Party, and another district-level comrade Venkatayya alias Prasanna, were arrested by the SIB goons of Andhra Pradesh police, were brutally tortured and murdered in the early hours of 24th. They were arrested from Nashik city in Maharashtra. The dead bodies of the two comrades were thrown in the Lavvala forest in Tadwai mandal of Warangal district, AP, and the usual story of an encounter was concocted. The Chief Minister, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy who was in Delhi repeated this concocted police story without an iota of shame. The police claimed that one AK-47 rifle and a 9mm pistol were recovered from the dead along with three kit bags. To mislead the people as part of the psychological warfare waged by the state in its all-round war against the Maoist movement, a statement was issued by the APSIB in the name of the CPI (Maoist) spokesperson comrade Azad, to the effect that comrade Suryam (Vikas) had indeed gone to Warangal on some work. Later the CC of the CPI (Maoist) issued a statement disowning the statement given in the name of Azad and exposing the SIB’s psychological war.

The CC of the CPI (Maoist) issued a call to the entire Party and people to observe bharat bandh on June 12 to protest against the cold-blooded murder of these two beloved comrades. A petition was filed in the High Court by the Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee for conducting a re-postmortem on the body of the martyrs, and upon the Court’s order, it was carried out on May 26 on the body of comrade Vikas while comrade Prasanna’s body was cremated earlier by his family members. The manner in which the re-postmortem was conducted was condemned by the civil rights organizations, several political parties and other democratic-minded individuals as a hoax since it was done secretly without allowing comrade Sudhakar Reddy’s brother or others inside when the autopsy was being conducted. Comrade Varavara Rao said that he would file a case against the Warangal police chief Sajjanar for contempt of court as they did not allow the family members of the deceased at the time of re-postmortem. Various political parties condemned the murder describing it as a fake encounter and demanded a judicial enquiry. Maoist prisoners in the Cherlapalli jail in Hyderabad and Warangal central jail went on a hunger strike, protesting against the encounter of Sudhakara Reddy. They demanded that fake encounters be immediately stopped.

However, neither the lawless public goonda ruling the police state of AP, YS Reddy, nor the neo-Nazi criminals hiding behind a certain degree of sophistication nor gentlemen appearance ruling at the Centre—Manmohan Singh and Chidambaram—bothered about fake encounter killings and the trampling underfoot the fundamental rights supposed to be enshrined in the Indian Constitution. All they want is the elimination of the Maoist leadership at any cost. These unconstitutional criminal acts are not carried out by some police officials at the district or even state level. They are planned and executed under the direct guidance and direction of the top political leadership—YS Reddy in AP and Manmohan Singh-Chidambaram at the Centre. Comrades Vikas and Prasanna are the first victims of the fascist repression unleashed by the newly re-elected blood-thirsty government of YS Reddy in Andhra Pradesh and the Congress-led UPA government in the Centre.

Comrade Vikas went to meet comrade Prasanna at about 10 on May 23rd morning in Nashik city. He informed another comrade with whom he was staying at that time that he would attend the appointment and return within one hour. He called up after half-an-hour and informed that none had turned up for the first contact and that he would see for the second contact at 11 am also and then return by 11.30. And that was the last that was heard of him. He, along with comrade Prasanna, were abducted from the appointment place in Nashik, airlifted to Warangal which is more than 1000 km away, tortured throughout the night, murdered in the early hours, and their bodies were thrown in Lavvala forest in Warangal district. In less than 18 hours the SIB had abducted, tortured and murdered the comrades and threw their bodies at a place more than 1000kms away. Such is the sophistication of the criminal lawless gang in AP called SIB which never had any accountability whatsoever whether under the TDP regime of Chandrababu Naidu or the Congress regime of YS Reddy. This lawless gang, along with Greyhounds, resemble in all ways the death squads in Latin America under US-backed tin-pot dictatorships during the 1960s through 80s, and have a notorious criminal record of abduction and murder of hundreds of revolutionaries such as comrades Puli Anjanna, Shyam, Mahesh, Murali, Sande Rajamouli alias Prasad, Vadkapur Chandramouli alias BK, Sathyam, Madhav, Matta Ravi Kumar, Somanna, Yadanna, Padma, and innumerable other martyrs.

Comrade Patel Sudhakar Reddy, also popularly known as Suryam in the revolutionary camp in Andhra Pradesh and as Vikas in the CC and the newly formed Party after the merger of CPI (ML) [PW] and MCCI in September 2004, has become one of the established leaders of the Indian revolution and a member of the central committee of CPI (Maoist) after a long illustrious revolutionary career. Hailing from Kurthiravula Cheruvu village in Mahboobnagar district in South Telengana, he began his revolutionary life as a student activist of Radical Students Union in the early 1980s when he was studying his bachelor’s course in Gadwal town in Mahboobnagar district. Later when he was doing his Master’s degree in Osmania University in Hyderabad he joined the movement as a full-time organizer. Ever since then he made significant contributions to the erstwhile CPI (ML) [People’s War] and the CPI (Maoist), and the Indian revolution as a whole.

Responding to the call of the Party to build a guerrilla zone of armed agrarian revolutionary struggle in North Telangana and Dandakaranya with the goal of transforming them into base areas, he went to Eturnagaram-Mahadevpur forest in North Telengana in 1983 and worked as a commander of the guerrilla squad. Later he was transferred to Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra where he worked until 1988. He was shifted to the work of purchasing arms for equipping the speedily growing armed guerrilla squads of erstwhile CPI (ML)[PW]. He played a crucial role in supplying arms to the Party but was arrested in 1992 in Bangalore based on a tip-off from an arrested person. He remained an exemplary communist leader in jail where he spent almost seven years. He was released in 1998 and was taken into the AP state committee in the state Plenum held in 1999. He served as its secretariat member from 2001 to mid-2003 when he was transferred to other work allotted by the CC. He played a prominent role in building the movement in Dandakaranya in its initial years and later in the state of Andhra Pradesh. He was taken into the CC in 2005 and as a member of the CC he made significant contribution in formulating the central policies and plans.

Martyrdom of com Vikas is an irreparable loss to the Indian revolution and to the CPI (Maoist). He was an exemplary model to be emulated by all revolutionaries. Even in the midst of severe enemy repression he maintained a calm posture and instilled immense confidence in other cadres. He had also contributed much in studying the enemy tactics. He was known for his sincerity and dedication, deep commitment to the cause of the oppressed people, creativity and solid determination to fulfill any task entrusted to him, and militant fighting nature. Even in the severest hardships comrade Suryam never showed any vacillation or tension which gave immense confidence to the cadres around him. In one incident in early 2003, for instance, when he was working in Nallamala forest region, the enemy suddenly came near the camp and there was tension inside the comrades present at the camp. But seeing com Suryam who just sat coolly others regained their cool and waited for the next step. Com Suryam sent instructions to the members of the defense team asking them to put up stiff resistance in case the enemy attacked and to continue firing until everyone else had safely retreated. No wonder, his very presence instilled great confidence and a fighting spirit among the cadres and the people. Comrade Suryam also played a prominent role in planning and executing political actions and gave guidance to the action teams which executed former Home minister of AP, Madhav Reddy, and the attack on the then Chief Minister of AP, Chandrababu Naidu in 2003. The enemy has been itching to lay his hands on comrade Suryam, who was considered the most wanted in AP, and succeeded at last in May 2009.

In the Party committee meetings, right from the district committee meetings to AP state committee meetings to the meetings of the CC, comrade Vikas played a crucial, and many a time, a decisive role, as he had a clear grasp of the situation, did his homework thoroughly before attending the meetings, lacked dogmatic approach, and hence could come up with creative and feasible solutions to problems confronting the Party and the movement. His presence in the committee meetings contributed immensely in solving many complex problems. His transfer from the work in AP to central work in the middle of 2003 had an impact on the movement in AP but the decision to shift him had to be taken by the CC due to the priority of central work.

There are many revolutionary qualities that have to be emulated from comrade Suryam: his sense of humor, frankness in criticism of the mistakes in Party line and policies, mistakes and weaknesses of other comrades as well as his own, initiative and creativity, diligent study of events and experiences of other movements and committees, alertness to changes taking place in the enemy camp, domestic and international arena so as not to lag behind events, and seriousness of purpose in every task taken up by him or entrusted to him by the party. This quality he displayed from the very moment he joined the Party 27 years ago. That is why the higher committee always reposed confidence in him and rested in ease after giving him charge of a specific department or work. At the time of his martyrdom, he was involved in a very important work that is indispensable for formulating tactics by the various party committees, particularly the CC. His martyrdom at this critical juncture of the revolutionary movement is an irrecoverable loss and will have a serious effect on the movement as a whole.

Comrade Venakatayya alias Prasanna hails from Cheryala mandal in Warangal district, AP, and was actively involved in the student movement in AP for almost a decade and served as a leader of the All India Revolutionary Student Federation in AP. He took charge of the student movement in AP after the martyrdom of comrade Bhujanga Reddy alias Praveen. He was shifted to technical work in 2004 and has been working in the technical field since then. His contribution to the collection of material regarding enemy’s policies, plans and movements was noteworthy. He was always jovial and adjustable with any comrade. He took every work given to him quite seriously and hence the higher committee entrusted him important work with complete confidence in him. In his martyrdom the CPI (Maoist) has lost a young and energetic comrade with promising leadership qualities.

The contribution of comrades Suryam and Prasanna to the Indian revolution will never be forgotten by the CPI (Maoist), the PLGA and people. They will continue the struggle for the liberation of the country with redoubled vigor and hatred for the exploiters and traitors who rule the country. The reactionary rulers of India, with the active assistance of the imperialists, vainly hope to suppress the Indian revolution by eliminating the central and state leadership of the CPI (Maoist). By this, they think they can deprive the oppressed people of leadership and suppress their struggle for land, livelihood and liberation. But this conspiracy of the reactionary rulers will remain a mere day-dream. Thousands upon thousands of worthy revolutionary successors will step into the shoes of these beloved leaders turning the dreams of the reactionary rulers into nightmares.

The Peoples’ Truth pays its red revolutionary homage to comrade Sudhakar Reddy and Venkatayya and vows to fulfill their revolutionary dreams of a classless society. The people of India, particularly the people of AP, will never forget the great service these comrades had rendered to the Indian revolution. They will certainly avenge the martyrdom of these comrades by intensifying and expanding the ongoing people’s war, establishing base areas in the vast countryside of the country, transforming the PLGA into PLA and advancing the Indian revolution to its final victory.

The role of leadership is very crucial in any revolution. All successful revolutions in history had taken great care in preserving the leadership and ensuring continuity of leadership. Without such a continuity of leadership it is impossible to advance the revolutionary war and achieve final victory. Hence the Indian state also has been trying desperately by all means at its disposal to eliminate the Party leadership at all levels, particularly the central and state leadership. Enormous funds have been allotted for the purpose of eliminating the leadership and a vast intelligence network has been set up.Let us emulate the great revolutionary qualities of comrade Suryam and Prasanna and concentrate on developing worthy successors to these immortal martyrs.